Program

SPIRIT OF HAVEL FILM FEST: FROM THE EAST

FROM THE
EAST (Director: Chantal
Akerman 1993,107min) is a haunting, nearly wordless record of Eastern
Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Akerman captures indelible
images of people and places seemingly stuck in time: grand railway stations,
stony-faced people lined up amid austere communist architecture, the
otherworldly, snowbound landscapes of Moscow in winter’s twilight.

FROM THE EAST retraces a
journey from the end of summer to deepest winter, from East Germany, across
Poland and the Baltics, to Moscow. It is a voyage Chantal Akerman wanted to make
shortly after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, "before it was too
late," reconstructing her impressions in the manner of a documentary on
the border of fiction. In this quasi-fictional documentary, Chantal Akerman delivers
an impressionistic chronicle of the changing reality of Eastern Europe.

By filming "everything that touched me,"
Akerman sifts through and fixes upon sounds and images as she follows the
thread of this subjective crossing. Without dialogue or commentary, FROM THE EAST is a cinematographic elegy.

“Monumental...
Akerman’s method uncannily draws the spectator in... The people and places of
FROM THE EAST may be unnamed, but they are not anonymous: Their images are
indelible.”—Melissa
Anderson, Artforum

“A travelogue through history... Akerman has described this elegant
masterpiece as ‘documentary bordering on fiction’; it’s also a purely cinematic
monument in time and space.”—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“A meditative and elegiac work... Rich in natural sound and a masterwork of
mood and environment... Whether one sits and watches for five minutes or for
the entire 110-minute running time, one will be rewarded.”—Dusty
Somers, BlogCritics Video

“Akerman takes satisfaction in the demanding nature of her films. Most
directors feel complimented, she has said, when viewers say they are not aware
of passing time: ‘But with me, you see the time pass. And you feel it pass. You
sense that this is time that leads towards death... I’ve taken two hours of
[your] life.’ After seeing FROM THE EAST, you will consider it time well
spent.” —Livia Bloom, Film Comment

"Her camera shows flat landscapes and ribbons of city streets,
modulated by the change of seasons, by the succession of day and night. The
East is a space of muffled sounds, traversed by the footsteps of passers-by,
sporadically pieced by music, laughter and strange interjections. It is an
epidermal space: the camera slides over appearances ('like a caress', says
Akerman)... The East, no longer monolithically impersonal, is shown as both
familiar and completely strange. This is a haunting and, quite literally,
extraordinary film."—Francette Pacteau, San Francisco Film Festival

"Taking her relentless cameras from East Germany to Russia, Akerman
delivers an impressionistic report from the new front. Displaying her distinctive
visual style, influenced by structuralism and minimalism, her journal unfolds
as a procession of postcards ...Akerman captures the essence, if not the
historical particulars, of a region on the move."—Emanuel Levy,
Variety

"If this isn't a masterpiece, tear the word from your dictionary."—Stuart
Klawans, The Nation

This
experimental documentary is a compendium of striking images of Eastern Europe
and its citizens in transition, following the collapse of the so-called Cold
War. Places as diverse as Baltic beaches, and Moscow's snow-covered streets vie
for attention along with the citizens of these places as they wait in lines,
march in military formation, or stand idle in the waiting rooms of train
stations. There is no narration, and no clear point (except the idea of
transitions) is indicated by the beautifully chosen, enigmatic imagery. Indeed,
there is not even much musical accompaniment. Fans of director Chantal
Akerman's aggressively "non-commercial" work are likelier to find
this film more appealing than the average viewer will. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi